Lost in Fire
by Scruff the Rat
Summary: Drabblets on key moments of Vitaly's life. Rated for a few mild moments and words.
1. Failure

**I do not own Vitaly or any other related canon characters and elements of Madagascar. They are all the intellectual property of Dreamworks Animation.**

* * *

Pain... fire.

Fire... pain.

Those two words were all Vitaly could remember for some reason as he sluggishly awoke in stages of consciousness.

The first one—the realization that he was still alive... Nothing could be seen besides the dark produced by his eyelids, but he could hear sounds, gargled to a certain degree, but still audible and understandable—voices—familiar voices—worried voices.

The most comforting sound to reach the feline's ears, though, was breathing—his own breathing. He had absolutely no idea why but somehow he felt as if he should be...thankful...thankful for the fact that he had been extremely fortunate to have survived..._whatever_ it had been he had forgotten—and had left him behind in such an unnerving enough state of mind to actually think of survival, of all things, for that matter.

Second stage to come arrived as blurred images that melted through the tiger's visual obscurity. His forest green eyes retreated into their eyelids at the sudden contact with intensely white light as baritone groans simultaneously protested against the searing pseudo-blindness. Purely out of instinct, Vitaly tried to raise a paw in hopes of blocking out the offensive illumination.

Big mistake...

He inadvertently brought about the third stage: a stabbing, white-hot inflammation that took possession of his whole body instantaneously

So utterly taken off guard, Vitaly shut his eyes immediately and roared fearsomely and uncontrollably, his back arched sharply upwards as if it had just been prodded by a thousand red-hot needles. He began to thrash violently in response, the encompassing burning unlike any other bodily pain the aging tiger had endured in his long life.

Yet through all the miasma of chaotic agony, a touch of calm—a tiny paw—suddenly lay upon the poor tiger's larger right paw. Only at this touch did the feline's mind finally manage to think through the pain.

'_Vat...the hell...happened to me?'_ Vitaly growled in his mind, opening his eyes and gingerly turning his sweat-matted head...only to find a young jaguar preteen gazing down at him through tear-ridden, golden-brown eyes. Eyes widened, Vitaly slowly shifted his line of sight to his and the child's hands, the young jaguar's fingers gripped onto the male's own desperately, as if the youth were scared that the man before her might disappear into ashes right here and now if she was to as so much let go by even a centimeter. Guilt effortlessly replaced the pain, melting Vitaly's grimace into a saddened frown. In a rare moment of emotion, the older tiger became misty-eyed. Had he truly frightened his little Gia that badly with his reaction?

Emotion overriding logic, Vitaly tried to free his paw in order to comfort Gia...but fell short as the same demonic pain from prior took hold of him once more. He had to bite his teeth down hard and summon all his willpower to prevent another bloodcurdling roar from escaping him. His eyelids screwed themselves shut and the paw that held Gia's own paw engulfed it with a pressure that, through the tiger's iron will, assured that the dear kitten's hand would not suffer injury.

After what seemed like a merciless eternity, the sadistic agony at last ebbed away, no longer active but cruelly in waiting for next time to torture the vulnerable soul.

Vulnerable...oh how Vitaly _hated_ this word and its synonyms. Powerless, defenseless, incapable...weak...

Then out of the blue, a dainty finger stroked his right cheek...and only when Vitaly reopened his eyes did he notice the drop of saltwater on a sweetly smiling but still sad-eyed Gia's finger...as well as the snow-white bandages that crisscrossed not only all over his right hand but his body as well, practically to the point of mummification. Only his face and some of the head remained uncovered, exposed to the aftermath of...

'_My failure...'_ Vitaly's eyes suddenly ceased seeing Gia, ceased seeing the real world. All they viewed now was one horrid memory, the incident replaying repeatedly like a horrible movie Vitaly could not shut off and turn away from.

The lubricant...the ring...the horrified gasps of the audience...the looks of terror on his comrades' faces...Stefano mouthing and gesticulating wildly, fire extinguisher in his spindly flippers, but no words or sounds coming through...Gia running out to him, tears trailing behind her as she screeched his name out, her attempts, too, never coming through...

Vitaly, for the third time in row, closed his eyes, unwilling to believe reality at first. He wouldn't have failed. He couldn't have failed. He shouldn't have failed.

Yet he had.

He had let down everyone—the audience, his tradition, the circus, his family... his cub.

For the first time in years, Vitaly, as he hung his head back on the hay bed...cried.

In one single heartbreakingly hoarse whisper, the defeated tiger uttered a single statement in the shallow shadows of cart just prior to retreating back to the dark corners of his subconscious where he'd wait and hope for merciless oblivion to cradle him once more in its pitying arms.

"Gia...I am sorry."

* * *

**Feel free to make suggestions as to what improvements I need to make or what sort of scene you all would like to see next.**


	2. Worthless

**I own Boris and Natasha, but Vitaly belongs to Dreamworks Animation.**

* * *

"Bah, I knew right from get-go boy vas weak."

"Please, Papa, it is not Vitaly's fault! He could not have known how flammable oil vas!"

"Ignorance is no excuse for failure, Natasha! He has disgraced you, our kind, and, most importantly, our circus!"

All these words flew over Vitaly's head as the distraught tiger, standing by aid of a crutch and still swathed from head to toe in bandages sans his face, silently stood off to the sides, in the deep shadows, not daring to look at the illuminated center of the boxcar where two other tigers were arguing—one shorter and slimmer than Vitaly with delicate light blue eyes and one squatting, hazel-eyed, seemingly round figure in an ancient chair that had once been owned by the circus ringmaster.

Vitaly made neither retort nor protest. There lay no reason to; Natasha's father, Boris, was right.

He _had_ failed...miserably.

All he prayed was that the shadows would be dark enough to hide his face from wandering eyes. He didn't wish to shame his poor wife any further. _'Look at vat I have done. Oh Natasha, my love...if only I __**did **__deserve your support. Forgive me.'_

"That is why I have decided to divorce dhe two of you."

Stark dead silence dominated the dim train car as the Natasha and Vitaly gaped at the elder tiger. They could not believe what they had just heard!

Outrage overwhelming shame, Vitaly fumingly hobbled to Natasha's side with a fierce scowl on his muzzle. The paw that held his crutch turned almost white from its owner's rage. "You...YOU CANNOT DO THAT!"

Natasha did not beg to differ. "P...P-Papa...You can't just expect me to...to...just _leave _him! He is my **husband**!" And the spunky female feline set her front paws akimbo and, like her spouse, aimed a powerful glower down at her parent.

Boris merely stared at the pair of bold youth dispassionately; he was neither impressed nor amused.

"Actually, I can." Up until now, the old man's voice had been a slow, arrogant drawl. Now, though, it evolved into a booming thunder of savagery, almost as if he had suddenly become a tiger-version of the god Zeus; his accent only emphasized that quality. Rock-hard bones and rippling muscles cracked ominously as Boris revealed his true titanic height—even Vitaly would appear a dwarf compared to this behemoth. One would have been breathless enough at the fact that this man's head barely brushed against the ceiling. And his teeth...His teeth gleamed not like actual teeth, but more like knifes sharpened straight to the point.

And realizing too late that they had temporarily forgotten their place, Vitaly and Natasha moved back with extreme caution, the latter clinging to her husband's unoccupied arm in bone-chilling fear as the former attempted his hardest to stare-down the fearsome elder, even though he knew very well such an effort would eventually be in vain.

But he had to be strong for Natasha. He had to prove to Boris that he deserved another chance, accident or no accident.

Alas, no more chances were given.

With the reflexes of a king cobra and the might of an anaconda, a giant paw clasped itself around Vitaly's neck and lifted the relatively lighter feline between two and three feet off the ground, the sudden lack of flowing oxygen and the shock of being unpredictably strangled causing the incapable male to drop his crutch, the object falling to the ground with a haunting clatter. Natasha reeled back at the unreal scene, absolutely stunned by her own father's brutality, her hands covering her mouth as a gasp escaped it.

Words failed her...but not as much as they failed Vitaly.

"This is **my **family, boy" Boris hissed right in Vitaly's face, making sure to tighten his chokehold so the "impudent cub" got the point. "And vhat I say goes. And **I **say..." His vice grip on Vitaly's throat tightened even further, inciting a choked gasp from the injured feline, whose emerald eyes, much to Natasha's shock and horror began to bug out in an alarming fashion. "You are done." For the first time in this fateful fight, Boris showed emotion—manifested as a cruel, sadistic sneer that grew all the more at Vitaly's pitiful wheezing for air.

Natasha had seen more than enough. She dashed to her parent's side and drew her claws out with a threatening click.

"PAPA, STOP IT!" she screeched as she bared her teeth at Boris and dug her front claws deep into the thick arm that was killing her husband. "YOU ARE HURTING HIM!"

"SILENCE!"

Before anyone could blink, the massive, meaty paw released itself from Vitaly's gullet, sending the nearly unconscious tiger to the floor, limp and gasping for air, and rammed itself hard against Natasha's cheek, the force of the impact knocking the poor tigress out cold against the unforgiving wooden wall. She sunk to the floor like a helpless, limp doll, eyes shut, a faint imprint of red liquid left behind on the spot of the wall where the wood had met her skull.

Everything swam in Vitaly's vision, but that one, disheartening image of his unfortunate love, still as death, somehow proved as clear as the overhead light...and the hulking figure whose shadow soon enveloped him and whose size blocked his view of Natasha.

"Now...I believe dere is sometheeng you owe me, **boy**. An apology, perhaps, to make up for your utter lack of respect...?"

Vitaly only glared daggers up at this smirking brute, this callous barbarian that dare call himself a parent. This man deserved no respect at all—not from him, not from Natasha, not from anyone!

"_Popov_, you seeck fart..." he managed to spit out.

All Vitaly received for an answer was a harsh kick to the chest. New, excruciating pain surged through him to such a point that he had a strong feeling half of his ribs were broken now.

And the last sight he ever saw before finally blacking out completely was that of Natasha, hung over her father's shoulder like a sack of potatoes, her injured visage disappearing behind wood as Boris brusquely and uncaringly shut the door to both the boxcar and Vitaly's only remaining chance for happiness.

* * *

**I really did not enjoy making this chapter. But it had to be done. :(**


	3. Contact

**I still do not own Vitaly or Madagascar. :p**

* * *

"You."

The monochromatic equestrian froze in stark fear at hearing that gruff, Russian-accented voice. Frigid, nighttime wind did nothing to alleviate Marty's building anxiety; actually, if anything, the breeze only _amplified_ it. Realizing that he'd have to face the proverbial music sooner or later, the zebra slowly turned to face the circus's unofficial "patriarch." Circus Zaragoza's resident feline, leaning his broad back to a nearby oak tree, arms crossed, and scowl prominent, trained his sharp verdant eyes on the much smaller zebra.

"Uh...hey, V!" Marty squeaked out pathetically, plastering a fake grin over his dark grey muzzle and meekly waving a hoof.

Vitaly's expression darkened dangerously at the nickname, eliciting a gulp from Marty, whose grin waned instantly and greatly as its owner backed up worriedly. "I-I-I m-mean _Vitaly_! Of course...! Silly me! How could I have forgotten...that?" His sentence tapered off because Vitaly had just unveiled a knife he had been hiding behind his back and was now twirling it between his thick fingers effortlessly, just like how he had been during the Zoosters' arrival two days ago.

'_I'm gonna die right here, ain't I?'_ Marty wondered with a silent gulp; he could still smell the metal of the blades that would have surely beheaded him had the striped performer's aim had been even _slightly_ off. This time, unfortunately, there'd be no Alex to talk a way out of this mess—no Gloria to shove this feline's hide to the curve—no Melman to pull off a "sad-eyes" look. Marty only had himself, a silver tongue with currently no sense of cooperation, and his sense of bad luck, and could only gulp once more then close his eyes before steeling himself for the apparent end...

"Vat are you doeeng out here?" were the suspicion-laden words—and the only things in general—flung at Marty. When the zebra reopened his eyes, he noticed that Vitaly remained in the same position as seconds before, glower and all. No claws, no growls, no knife throws, no sudden pounces—all the tiger wanted was a simple answer.

Marty, to his own surprise, instantly lost all fear within himself upon this realization. _'What __**am**__ I doing out here?'_ No longer did he feel like quaking in his skin. Rather, he tore his bright green eyes away from the hulking tiger to gaze at the ground below, digging a front hoof into the dewy grass.

"No reason..." he muttered lamely, shrugging his shoulders absently. No regret plagued Marty for he knew the _real _reason for his illicit presence out here had virtually nothing to do with the hoax that he, Alex, and the rest of the gang was playing on the animals of this circus.

"No one sneaks off in middle ov night for 'no reason'." Great, now Vitaly could practically _smell_ Marty's fibbing. If not for the distance between the two mammals, Marty could have easily ducked into his train car and called it a night. But he understood well that that such an action couldn't be an option. Vitaly wanted answers out of him—one way or another.

All of a sudden, Marty felt a rush of something. This something wasn't primal, but it wasn't exactly new either. In fact, Marty could remember feeling this particular mood very clearly—the time after he had discovered how he had lost his identity in the eyes of Alex all because of those accursed copycat equestrians. Yes, the sensation of leaving behind "ungrateful dead weight" shot—nay, _stormed_ through Marty's mind and found its way to his mouth before his brain's message to keep that trap shut could dash down the nerve highway to do the same.

Heavy footsteps alerted Marty to the approach of Vitaly, the tiger's baleful eyes boring the zoo animal even deeper than before for answers. "Zebra, if whateva' you are planning threatens this cir—"

"**I got a lot on my mind, alright, man?!"**

And for the space of five seconds, Marty felt ecstatic! He actually felt...free. After so many days that had secretly weighed down on his aging nerves, Marty felt liberated again.

Then reality hit.

He had just told off Vitaly.

He just told off the same feline that could pierce him into a pincushion!

What had he been **thinking**?!

Yet Marty, so wrapped up in cringing for his supposedly inevitable demise, never saw Vitaly's glower lower by a degree or two.

In actuality, the tiger felt a bit shaken by the zebra's rough retort, too. Even considering the short time this equine and his friends had coexisted with the circus, Vitaly was certain such gruff behavior should be uncharacteristic of the optimistic Marty. It felt too much like if _Stefano_ suddenly became the one flinging knives and scowling and whatnot. What could be going through this striped horse's mind to trigger such conduct?

The answer remained elusive in Vitaly's case for the zebra already began trotting off to the train cars listlessly, leaving behind a speechless feline alone in the frigid dark.

Needless to say, the middle-aged zebra needed some space right now.

Vitaly sighed heavily, the feeling of failing once again too close for comfort in his opinion. But did he just fail protecting his circus—or rather fail a fellow animal in seeing past a certain darkness—the same darkness in which he himself is still suffering?

'_Perhaps...it eez notheeng.'_

Deep down, Vitaly knew that thought was merely a lie.


	4. Spark

**None of the characters or elements in this story are mine. They belong to Dreamworks Animation.**

* * *

Vitaly, for the life of himself, could never quite figure out how this zebra could switch personalities so fast and flawlessly. A few moments ago, the equine had been dancing and singing around with Alex like a nut on whiskey. He'd even been donning that goofy rainbow afro, much to Vitaly's chagrin (even though time already enabled the Russian tiger to grow accustomed to the oddly endearing headwear). Now ever since the lion had departed to check on Gloria and Melman, Marty looked...older—wiser, even. That same, quirky smile remained but now a great portion of the cheeriness came out as starry-eyed wistfulness. As of now, the two striped males were sitting around with Gia in Vitaly's boxcar as forming rain could be heard pitter-pattering repetitively against the walls.

Vitaly always hated the rain—well maybe not so much 'hate' as much as 'dislike'. He never minded being wet (being a tiger after all), but he both hated and dreaded to see the disappointment on Gia's face whenever such weather transpired. It made everything slippery and thus harder to hang onto, especially metal objects (bars, for example).

Gia, to her own credit, seemed to notice the zebra's disposition shift as well, evident by her raised eyebrows and perplexed frown, but did not allow Marty to catch on. Whether out of meek concern or deep-seated respect, Vitaly couldn't quite say. He knew for a fact how highly Gia viewed Marty, a point of preference that shocked both zebra and tiger alike when the two elder mammals found out shortly after the Du Bois incident in New York. Actually, the feline knife-flinger had had a gut feeling that the young jaguar possessed a fond opinion of the spindly equestrian—ever since the eclectic Zoosters and gruff, tough, and slightly eccentric circus performers first encountered each other.

"Are you a-feeling alright, Signor Marty?" Gia was sitting right next to the addressed, so the pensive frown on Marty's face proved very perceptible to the girl's sharp eyesight. The zebra, jolted out of his reverie by the jaguar's soft voice, gave her a weak grin and attempted his hardest in correcting his obvious slouch.

"What'chu talkin' about, girl? I gotta be a cannonball this morning!" He swerved a hoof in the air in an unconvincingly animated fashion to illustrate his point. "Don't see what's there to _not _feel alright about."

The young feline showed no signs of being convinced, but let the subject drop right there. "I suppose you are a-right. You seemed to have a-learned cannon very well, Signor Marty!" she commented with a perky grin.

Marty silently sighed through his nose in relief; he couldn't thank Gia enough (in his mind, at least) for switching to a less personal topic. "Well, maybe I had a _little _help."

A wry smirk dominated Gia's face. "Well, you a-certainly did not need help in a-getting Stefano off the cliff a-that one time."

Her equestrian senior returned the smirk, gently elbowed the spunky teen in the arm, and teasingly retorted, "Says the girl who caught a beam with her _mouth_ that one time!"

All the while, Vitaly silently chuckled at the affectionate and familial ribbing his _detenysh _and Marty were handing each other. He _still _couldn't believe how quickly he'd grown to appreciate the company of this aged zebra. When the Zoosters first arrived at the circus, the cynical tiger had initially assumed that, much like the lion, Marty would be a flagrant trouble-maker. "Clown" would have been a better word to suit the optimistic zebra. After catching a glimpse of that absurd "Afro-Circus" dance, all an inwardly cringing Vitaly could form for an opinion about Marty was _'I suppose zebra could have been worse.'_

Ah, but the wizened tiger's accusation resulted to be wrong—_dead_ wrong. Marty developed and proved himself to be the most colorful and complex character to ever grace Circus Zaragoza.

"But there is a-one thing that I do not get." Vitaly's eye-ridges creased at the manner in which Gia's lips downturned. "How can you be a-so content with doing nothing?"

Both elder males merely shared a knowing look then tsked paternally at the naïve cub, Marty shaking his head much like a father or uncle would. "Ahh, the youth, always thinking moving around and about is the way to go about livin' life..."

Vitaly fought the urge to snort; he seconded that notion. Gia heard him regardless and huffed a bit, even though a playful smirk lay across the beautiful jaguar's face. "I do _not_ a-think that. I only think it makes no a-sense to simply sit around and a-do nothing."

That assertion wiped the smirk off the tiger's face. His cub's behavior reminded him of a certain feline performer _he _once knew...years ago. _'She is right in a vay...but so is Marty.'_

Marty vibrated his lips with an audible motorboat-with-attitude sound. "Nah, you ain't gotta act all cool around us, G! I get the same thing from Alex _all _the time!" A lanky black-and-white limb strode through the air in a half-circle prior to returning to its owner's side as the other slipped around Gia's shoulders and leaned her into the warmth of Marty's lean body (the penguins hadn't quite gotten around to installing air-conditioning for the train-cars yet). Gia displayed no resistance to the kindhearted contact but instead rested her head against Marty's soft shoulder, rest coming for her sluggishly but surely.

The zebra nuzzled the top of the petite's head as he whispered, his crackling voice full of tender sympathy, "Trust me. When you're older, you'll be _wishing_ for more moments like this."

She would? Gia shrugged her shoulders in genuine befuddlement. _'I a-truly do not see point.' _"I don't see how I'll be able to. Even if I a-wanted to, circus is my life." She placed a paw over her chest—over her heart, to be exact— as her gaze lifted off the zebra and swiftly switched to a mind-stalled Vitaly. "Aside from sleeping, why should I a-rest, knowing there are still performances out there I must prepare for?"

When the young jaguar looked upwards at the elder zebra once again, however, she almost gasped and jerked back at the solemn frown on his dark grey muzzle. "You know something? That's a pretty common mistake folks do—animals _and_ humans. They spend most of their youth thinking every second not spent sleeping has gotta be spent doing what they love doing the most. I ain't dissin' what you do, G. You really _are_ good at doing trapeze...but you've gotta learn to sometimes just let go and let the world pass you by. Otherwise, all that passion either gets used up in the end or turns on you in the _worst_ possible way."

Even in the nearing embrace of inescapable slumber, Gia's earth-toned eyes blinked with pure apprehension; Marty's warning truly chilled her in a way that practically, for all intents and purposes, shamed the actual cold. "Worst possible way...?"

"Trust me. I _know_ what I mean."

Silence reigned supreme in the moments that followed. A certain tiger stared into the darkness of a corner immediately afterward, utterly shell-shocked by Marty's philosophical wisdom. That advice literally plunged him into the darkest part of his mind and soul. _'Is zat what happened to me?'_

"Being with lion for so long teach you this?" Even then, the ring-jumper never removed his sight from the corner.

Marty gave Vitaly no answer—well, not a direct one at least._"L'arte di non fare niente!" __**(1)**_

Both felines, one sleepy-eyed and the other wide awake, merely stared at the equine in genuine perplexity, completely at an incomprehensible loss due to his use of such foreign words (except for different reasons).

"What?" Vitaly uttered intelligently; he had absolutely no idea what Marty had just blurted out. Gia, on the other hand, being of Italian origin, could at least comprehend, in terms of translation, the zebra's statement in general. When she sounded out the English words, however, the pronunciation emerged slowly and awkwardly...almost as if they possessed a taste most peculiar and unfamiliar to her tongue. "The art of...doing nothing?"

One smirk designated the start of the whole fun Marty prepared to have in just a few moments.

Oh boy, these two had much to learn.

* * *

**I learned of its English translation from "Eat, Pray, Love." The movie has a boatload of romance in it (which is fine by me—a romance junkie), but it also has a nice spiritual feel. I recommend it.**


	5. All Along

**The honor of owning Madagascar and all its characters belongs to Dreamworks.**

* * *

"_Suck in that gut!"_

The whole time I'd been in that cage...I really thought that was it, Vitaly.

There we were, back at the zoo, just where Alex wanted to be from the very beginning...and where I _didn't_ want to be...because I knew in mah heart that place wasn't where I would be spendin' the rest of mah life. And I was right.

But I took it the wrong way—in Madagascar, in Africa, and even in the circus. Especially in the circus...

Madagascar was beautiful—drop-dead gorgeous—Africa was our ancestral origin—the reason our families ever existed—but that circus...that crazy, crazy, _crazy _place...full of crazy animals we never met before, full of crazy dreams we would've neva' believed, full of crazy memories of when they used to be so great...we helped bring those dreams back...we brought those memories back to life ...but then we smashed 'em. Smashed 'em 'til you couldn't tell what they looked like anymore...

Every time we came to a new place, it always ended up being less green than we hoped it would be. Madagascar almost got us killed. We almost forgot who we were in Africa. The circus was, by far, the greatest place we ever came across—out of all the places we washed up/crash-landed near—and we couldn't stay...because all we wanted to think about was home.

Home sweet home...well it was home alright, but it wasn't so sweet anymore, and I bet it still ain't...Now it's exactly the way I pictured it to be before I ran away for the wild—just one big, fancy cage to keep the people amused.

The people...sometimes I still wonder why I ever thought so highly of 'em. I ain't sayin' I'm gonna hate humanity with all my heart. That just wouldn't be right. It'd be like cursin' God for all the things the four of us went through. Where'd the point be?

And that's anotha' thing: the people weren't as different from us animals as we thought...well, the _rest _of us animals. Before Madagascar, I actually thought they were some weird aliens that landed on Earth a century or two ago and decided to make this planet their home and make the natives their special entertainment. Heh, crazy, I know...

But seriously, they're not all different from us when you put some thought into it.

They gotta survive, too, just like the lemurs. They get scared, they get worried, like you did Stefano...They have families...They can love, hate...And, man, can they get scary when they set their minds to something...Simply put, humans are by the far the _weirdest_ animals I've evah seen in my life.

And we were back where they thought we belonged. Like I said, I could nevah bring myself to hate humans. I ain't that kind of zebra. But they were still scared—scared of _us. _That's why we were in cages that time. They didn't trust us anymore. They couldn't trust us anymore. Just like how you guys couldn't trust us anymore...

Losing trust: yeah, that's definitely something me and the guys are good at. We can never seem to keep it for long. At least you guys got the rest of our lives to hang that over our heads. Don't go tryin' to tell me any different, Gia. You know it's true.

But I digress.

At least you got your wish, Ali-al, I'd thought. You got back your rock, your place in the spotlight, and, most importantly, the people to cheer for you again.

'Cept the glitter in New York wasn't there anymore—that time, we _truly were _animals to those people. Wild, dangerous, and so pretty much fit to be caged...

And as if irony wasn't done kickin' our butts around, that crazy French lady—Dubah or something, whatever—_she _got the praise; _she _got the thanks; and _she _almost got Alex...right where she wanted him.

I honestly thought that was it for us. No more chances...no more freedom...no more us...

That's why of all the saving graces I gave up wishing for...ya'll almost made mah heart stop! I swore it was all a dream when I saw you crazies in the sky, riding that circus-style blimp like you guys had been doin' it your whole lives!

You came back for us after the lies we told you.

You came back because we actually abandoned you.

You took us back.

You saved us.

That—oh man, I promised myself I wouldn't cry! I'm sorry. That was the greatest thing I'd ever seen anyone—human or animal—ever do for us!

Thank you...for being the greatest circus an animal could ask for.

Thank you.

* * *

**And thank you, all of the people who have the guts and heart to review my stories. This is in honor of those lost in the Connecticut shooting. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. :,(**


	6. Genius

**Things will a positive turn from here on out. Watch and I'll show you. :)**

**I only own Natasha, Boris, and all other elements non-canon to Madagascar. Anything that is canon to Madagascar belongs to Dreamworks Animation.**

* * *

"Listen, Stripes. I'll have you know right off bat that this goes _completely_ against regulations."

The zebra rolled his eyes in mock but amused exasperation. These penguins and their military-style thinking. "I know Skipper, but I wanna know anyway. I just gotta know. For Vitaly's sake."

Skipper simply stood, staring at Marty for a few disbelieving seconds. "I don't care about the rules. All I care about is Vitaly getting the happy ending he deserves. He stuck out his neck out for us when he didn't have to. He got the whole circus to back us up when we went up against DuBois. If he doesn't deserve anything else, the least he does deserve is to have that last piece of his heart back."

Within the space of silence that followed afterwards, the fear of Skipper responding with the same negation tugged at the corners of the heartfelt equine's mind.

"Stripes...," the penguin rubbed his forehead yet smiled a sly smile, "Sometimes I wonder why you're not a penguin."

Marty smiled instead of bothering to debate whether or not to take that statement as a compliment. "Thanks, Skip."

* * *

"What do you think Marty is a-planning, Vitaly?" Stefano asked as he waddled in between the tiger and Gia, the three circus animals walking down the length of the train to reach their intended destination. Shafts of auburn twilight grazed the grass as the plant blades trodden underneath by the trio barely managed to retain some semblance of their former selves.

Vitaly shrugged his massive, striped shoulders in a nonchalant manner, a little surprised the sea lion knew nothing of whatever the equestrian had planned. After all, the Italian and the urban ungulate were as close-knit as fingers drenched with dried-up soda pop and glue. **(1) **"I am not too certain, Stefano. We vill know vhen we get dere."

Gia glanced to her stepfather with a thoughtful look. "He did a-seem awfully excited, though. I wonder why."

"Did li—uh, _Alex_ tell you anything? Did you at least ask him?" Vitaly was still getting used to thinking of the pretty boy lion on friendly terms.

Now was Gia's turn to shrug shoulders. "I did. He is as just as a-confused as us. It cannot-a be anyone's birthday today. If so, almost everyone else would have-a known as well."

"Yes...Instead, Marty is keeping secret to himself." The knife-slinger had long since gone past viewing the zebra with any hint of suspicion. At this point in time, however, the tiger could not deny a pang of concern due to the odd behavior he'd been witnessing from Marty for the past three days: the monochromatic had been usually quiet, scarcely seen beyond practice, and conspicuously avoiding contact with the others, even Alex, Melman, and Gloria. To say such conduct worried the three other New Yorkers the most would have been a gross understatement. Evidently, as far as Gloria told Vitaly, they'd only ever seen the zebra in such a mood once before: the night of his fateful zoo-breakout...the one that ignited the Zoosters' globe-trotting adventure in the first place.

Vitaly felt confident enough to conclude such a case was not repeating itself, especially after the epic, life-changing events of four months ago. Besides, if Marty _had_ been feeling the influence of a second middle-age crisis, Vitaly would just slap the nonsense out of him (with the permission of Gloria, Alex, and Melman, of course).

One detail, in particular, though, about the recent previous days stuck out rather incongruously, like an outlier in a function's range...

"Penguins have been gone for long while." Vitaly wasn't sure why this detail unnerved him even more than Marty's uncharacteristic behavior did; maybe the reason amounted from the off-kilter and overly covert way in which the "smartly dressed birds" accomplished their goals. The lead penguin—Skipper, right?—appeared like the kind of man to keep certain things on the down-low and all hush-hush.

"Oh, don't you-a be worrying your-a silly head, Vitaly!" Stefano piped up with a goofy grin. "Skipper and his team-a had been taking care of our circus just-a fine!"

"I have to agree-a with Stefano, Vitaly. The penguins haven't let us down-a yet." the beautiful leopardess added with a perky smile, although Vitaly could still detect some uncertainty and uneasiness in her eyes as far as the birds were involved; he chose not to comment. The trapeze-performer's smile suddenly dipped into the same frown from prior. "Besides, it is Marty I'm-a worried for."

A meaty paw clamped Gia's shoulder with an assuring firmness; the skin and fur of Vitaly's muzzle stretched from a soft smile. "You are right, Gia. Do not vorry. I intend to talk to him soon enou—"

"Yo, V!"

Heads shot around simultaneously to discover Marty, loveable grin back in action after so long, galloping his way down from the other end of the train, having returned from who-knows-where. What Vitaly struggled to understand, though, was why the zebra seemed to be smiling at _him_ specifically.

Marty skidded to halt and paused to catch his breath before further addressing Vitaly. "Hey, just the tiger I needed to see! Listen, there's somebody here I wantcha to meet," a sideways glance, "G, Stef, ya'll don't mind tagging along for the ride, do ya?"

The girl cat hummed to herself for a few seconds, a wondering light in her eyes. "Um...no I suppose-a not."

That answer proved satisfying enough for Marty. "Good, cuz you guys are gunna _love_ this!"

Gia and Stefano merely shared a look of confusion, baffled as to what Marty had in store. Vitaly, in contrast, felt his curiosity significantly piqued. _'He asked Gia and Stefano whether dey mind joining us,' _"us" meaning Vitaly and Marty, _'It eez not my birthday...but...'_

"Very well, Marty...lead dhe way."

* * *

'_Vitaly isn't gonna love you for this, Marty...he is gonna __**worship**__ you for this!'_ Alex thought in awestruck stupor as Gia, during their date in Moscow, recounted the blow-by-blow (well, okay, not quite blow-by- blow but definitely knock-out) details of how Marty—his, Gloria's, and Melman's Marty—managed to locate and bring back Vitaly's long-lost wife Natasha for a family reunion that would have put even the most stone-faced of souls to tears.

Euphoria, ecstasy, jubilance—all these words and their synonyms were too tiny in meaning to encompass the flood of emotion that swept across the older members of the circus—and those who had practically grown up in the circus—the moment everyone's eyes beheld a face no one dared believe, much less dream, of ever seeing again. The poor tigress nearly suffocated from the mass of circus animals that had rushed right up to her at the speed of light, each of them managing at one point or another to gain a grip on her, as if to comfort their own minds in the reality that her return was no dream.

No one proved more emotional than Vitaly.

From what Gia could gather, Natasha, never one to twiddle her thumbs and simply "hope for the best," escaped the iron-fisted seniority of her father months after her coerced "divorce" and full recovery and hopped aboard the nearest moving train.

Her journey, though rough and difficult at times, proved to be the descending action of her story, the dreaded climax being her timely escape from the boxcar of her and her parent's circus's train, which had been heading from San Francisco to Houston at the time. From there on, Natasha's method of train-hopping and walking around in a trench-coat in broad daylight, coupled at one point with stowing away onto an ocean liner headed from New York to London (Alex ignored the bit of nostalgia at the mention his former home), landed her near a well-off European circus, where she managed to convince the resident animals, after telling them her heartbreaking yet inspirational story, to allow her safe passage until she could obtain info on the whereabouts of Circus Zaragoza—her husband's circus...her circus.

One need not think hard to guess how the rest of the story progressed.

"Whoa..." That was all Alex could say from atop his and Gia's perch from the deserted bridge. **(2) **That single word-in one long, drawn-out breath...

Gia couldn't blame him. "She is amazing, no? At surface, Natasha seems so delicate and mild-mannered...but deep down she is as fierce as Vitaly!" she commented as her tone suddenly rushed in passion at the end to illustrate her point.

Alex chuckled in response. "No wonder those two hooked up. Say...how _are_ those two lovebirds doing, by the way?" A sudden blush on Gia's cheeks made him question whether his inquiry had been a sound one to voice.

"Oh...they are...fine. Just fine..."

On second thought, the ex-king of New York decided he'd rather not find out. He had a good hunch either way.

* * *

In the pitch black interior of Vitaly's boxcar, the silhouettes of two tigers blanketed the bed that stood in one corner of the refurnished, Spartan room. Light panting and heavy breathing danced and courted in the air as their origins lay together on the mattress, fur damp and drenched with sweat...yet smiling in bliss and entrancing content. Rekindled feelings flared brighter than the star Sirius, caring not if the bodies of their hosts were too exhausted to "continue on."

A slim paw gripped the part of Vitaly's chest over where the heart beat rapidly and fervently, driven by the ongoing adrenaline and excitement brought about by the feline pair's lovemaking. Vitaly sighed deeply and calmly—more calmly than he ever remembered having done since-and nuzzled his wife's forehead with a tenderness he had long missed and yearned over the years with great pain. Natasha's pleasured sighs only stoked her husband's euphoria even more as the tigress snaked her arms up Vitaly's body then around his neck. Her subject of affection reciprocated the action without hesitation.

And there they lay, friends since childhood, lovers since adolescence, spouses since matrimony, even after Boris's barbaric attempts to separate them...one and the same since the first day they met...together once more beyond mere spirit and heart...all because of one goofball zebra who couldn't have been more proud of himself.

* * *

**Sorry, folks, I didn't do a sex scene because then I'd have to bump up the rating. Besides, it would've distracted from the story (not that many people would have minded).**

**(1) Have any of you ever had soda or glue stuck to your fingers? Not quite a headache but pretty close...XP**

**(2) I based this part off of a concept art for Madagascar 3.**


	7. Plan

**I would like to thank Funkywatermelon for allowing me to use her OC, Gabby—big thanks to her (or him)! Madagascar and its canon characters belong to Dreamworks. I only own Natasha.**

* * *

Never had the former king of New York ever seen Vitaly so...so happy!

Vitaly...the eternally surly, bad-tempered knife-slinger...the eternal "DJ of doom and gloom" (as so affectionately nicknamed by Marty—with returning "death threats" guaranteed)...glowed with something fierce! Not even fireworks could compare their ephemeral, artificial radiance to the luminance that had been emanating from the Russian feline ever since the unbelievable miracle-return of his long-lost wife.

Granted, this development changed nothing of Vitaly's character or quirks; he remained the same grouchy, defensive, and cynical "Do-not-assume-I-finish-watching-you-lion" tiger Alex, Marty, and the rest of the NYC gang would never forget meeting from so many months ago. In fact, Alex swore Vitaly's glares on him were becoming significantly darker and potent. Maybe the big guy finally felt like, what with his spouse back and all, he could be as intimidating as he desired without any substantial fear of repercussion.

...Then again, maybe not. Natasha was not a joke to laugh at either. Okay, so she had this whole sweet, delicate wife façade going on and was admittedly more approachable than her husband both socially and emotionally; that didn't dull the edge of her ability to throw knives with as much precision as Vitaly...or her abilities in Tai Chi, for that matter, which Marty reportedly witnessed during one of his little get-togethers with Vitaly.

Let's just say Alex wasn't too keen on sharing the same fate as that brick he witnessed the tigress splitting in half this morning—with her bare hands. On the other hand, who would ever want to argue against a tiger couple at all—aside from Gia and maybe Stefano, of course? And, of course, Marty would, too, being as bold (and possibly crazy) as he was.

All kidding (and non-kidding) aside, though, Natasha took the fact that her солнышко (sohl-neesh-kah)* was dating surprisingly well. Most of the New Yorkers, long-time used to folks overacting, whether by humans or other animals alike (or, heck, even amongst each other), nearly lost their jaws to the ground the moment the tigress nonchalantly shrugged and coolly stated, "Oh, well dat sounds nice."

If this reality had been an anime, even_ Vitaly_ would have fallen to the ground in exasperation! Instead, the hulking husband had merely stared at his wife at the time as if she'd just shrunk to half her height. At the same time, though, those words also underestimated the female feline's tough, gritty personality—and sense of witty sarcasm.

Her pale sky blue irises visually absorbed the shell-shocked faces. "Vhat? You all thought I vould fly off handle and shish-kabob someone?"

Alex, figuring to be the only one willing to risk the temper of the woman Vitaly chose as his mate, meekly responded with "Is it okay if no one answers that?"

Natasha's eyebrows perked, the tigress obviously impressed; she must had been to administer a hearty slap to Alex's back. "Smart move. I can see why Gia picked you."

"And I can tell ya the first reason these two fell for each other," Marty snorted in playful snark. The smart-aleck earned himself a good elbow in the ribs from both Alex and Gia after that comment.

* * *

Yet even with Natasha's miraculous comeback, Zaragoza's nasty sense of bad luck still lingered in some aspect...and not in a manner or form the circus residents would have anticipated, much less thought about. Everything seemed so simple at first, at least in theory and to Vitaly.

Step One: Travel to America by plane.

Step Two: Arrive at Houston, Texas, just a week before the grand Valentine's Day parade, featuring none other than the famous Circus Zaragoza.

Step Three: Have everyone in the circus practice up to the aforementioned holiday, ending up with the whole team sending the audience, especially the children, into a joyous, awestruck uproar.

Still sounds easy, right? Unfortunately, Steps Two and Three sort of ended up with a Step Two-and-a-Half somewhere in between.

The reason: Marty.

Actually, scratch that statement. The reason, in more exact terms, was the fact that Marty ended up falling for some lady zebra residing in a strange, traveling, mystery zoo. Vitaly didn't even know there _were_ zoos that did traveling; he found the idea much too suspicious for his liking. Regardless, the aged tiger could only sigh in frustration due to not the fact one of his own comrades found love (he could support _that_ prospect—definitely) but rather the untimeliness of Marty's blossoming tenderness for this...what had that starry-eyed equine called the girl?

Gabby...?

"Marty eez not theenking clearly on dis," Vitaly vexed as he paced back and forth across the floor of his and Natasha's boxcar, hands behind his broad back. "Sometheeng about that girl's zoo does not feel right, my love."

Natasha, after listening as well as any supportive wife could would, and should, seized the opportunity to throw her two cents in. "You're right. That's why I intend to sneak into zoo with him tonight and meet this Gabby."

Vitaly absently nodded in approval at his wife's plan before his mind truly registered the words just spoken. "Good, then I can...wait...WHAT?!"

The tigress shrugged then repeated her words, unabashed by the incredulously shocked tone of her spouse's voice. "I intend to sneak into zoo with him tonight and meet this Gabby. I am pretty sure I made self clear."

"B-But...," her husband stuttered, unable to fully accept the risks Natasha was willing to face; he'd just been reunited with her after so many years...and now she wished to place herself in harm's way? No, Vitaly wouldn't have it! "My love, it is too dangerous!"

Silence reigned as Natasha fixed a dry, knowing gaze on her exasperated spouse. "Vitaly...you are _definition_ of dangerous—and I still married you, for crying out loud! Besides, has someone forgotten who brought it upon herself to travel across human country—almost all by herself? That makes excursion to zoo seem like stroll in park."

Vitaly strongly resisted the urge to bite his own tongue. She had him there.

* * *

'_That is her?!'_

Natasha couldn't believe her eyes.

The tigress never understood for certain what she expected to see after catching Marty red-handed (or, in this case, red-hoofed) in the middle of night, when all of the other animals, Vitaly included (after much assurance, of course) were deep asleep, allowing the zebra to hurriedly explain the situation concerning him and Gabby, and thus following the equine into the interior of the zoo...and beholding the heartbreaking sight that greeted her like a post-war scene in the frigid winter wind.

Only skin and bones...Dear God, the poor girl's ribs were almost visible from within her emaciated body; the owners of this place obviously weren't too particular about feeding their animals! The cage was a total pigsty, hay and dried up feces almost everywhere, the only suitable place for the female zebra able to sleep being a barren patch of dirt in an unlit corner of the desolate and quite cramped pen.

But the eyes were what broke Natasha's heart the most.

A delicate shade of brown of stripes crisscrossed in various places by viciously red marks that could have only originated from whips...the same-colored eyes glistening with the promise of more unshed tears...irises of russet practically faint—almost dead—of even a single glimmer of hope.

Fortunately, the sight of Marty appeared to positively influence the female equestrian's behavior and mood. A happy, albeit extremely shy, smile peeked across the girl's muzzle at the sight of the older zebra.

"H-Hi...M-Marty..." But then she suddenly recoiled as if slapped the moment her eyes caught sight of the slightly taller tigress looming right besides Marty. Shallow, rapid breathing caused her to hyperventilate. "W-W-W-W...Who..." she whimpered helplessly and buried her head into the crook of her own arms in a meager form of self-defense.

Natasha stole a look at a pity-eyed Marty, finally understanding the zebra's reason for his insistent nighttime visits to this—this...manifested nightmare. _'This child deserves none of this.'_

No, she most certainly didn't. This girl needed out of this prison—fast. And Natasha knew just how to do it.

* * *

**Next time on "Lost in Fire": Natasha and Marty cooperate to bust the mistreated Gabby out of her prison. How on Earth do they intend to do so, though?**


	8. No Telling

**You all must severely dislike me for keeping you waiting this long. I only own Natasha and anyone else I created for this story. Gabby belongs to Funkywatermelon. Marty, Vitaly, and any other characters canon to Madagascar belong to Dreamworks Animation.**

* * *

_'This could work,'_ Marty reveled in awe as he and Natasha walked to the penguins' cart, the sun just beginning to rise over the horizon. _'This is crazy and possibly suicidal, but it could actually work.'_

The two animals slipped out of Gabby's zoo a couple of hours ago and managed to return to their beds without anyone else in the circus any the wiser, save for Vitaly. Marty and Natasha both managed to gain a few winks, but weren't too worried about feeling tired for the rest of the day. They'd both dealt with even less sleep than that before. Besides, any sacrifice on their part was worth Gabby's freedom.

"Man, Natasha, girl...," Marty swore, shaking his head back and forth, a sly grin on his muzzle, "I'm startin' to see how you got V's heart in the first place!"

The tigress merely waved a paw at the zebra's comment with a grin of her own. "Oh trust me, Marty...the pleasure was all his. I only went along for ride—at least until after nuptial."

Natasha's suggestive joke made Marty raise his front hooves in a 'cool-it' gesture. "Whoa, girl...you best be keepin' those thoughts to yourself."

"Anyway, everything is almost ready. We already have Gabby filled in on plan." They notified the she-zebra of Natasha's grand plan just before they left. "We already notified monkeys of our plan as well and told them to have costumes ready. We only need one more thing."

"...The bling-bling from Skip and his crew!" Marty finished in excitement, "Man, those birds got enough dough from the shows to make a bonfire!"

The tigress nodded and pointed a finger in agreement. "And it should be enough for the monkeys to buy Gabby."

Marty froze in his tracks and tensed at the word "should." In that case, anything could happen with this plan.

And what if they _did _succeed, after all? Would Gabby feel at home in Zaragoza? Marty's friends—his _family..._wasn't exactly tame.

Natasha was quick to notice her friend's downtrodden expression, however, and placed a comforting hand on the equine's shoulder. "No, it _will_ work. We _will_ save her from that prison. I promise."

Her words brought life back to the zebra's emerald eyes after a few tense seconds of silence. "...Yeah...you're right...thanks, Nat."

"Well, look who's here, boys!" a familiar voice barked out.

Natasha and Marty jumped at the sight of Skipper standing on a stack of boxes just in front of them, the rest of the penguins just behind their leader, all of them with a knowing light in their eyes.

"Um...how long were ya'll expectin' us?" Marty slowly asked. _'This is makin' me feel slightly exposed right now for some reason.'_

Skipper's smug grin, if possible, got even smugger at the pair's looks of disbelief. "Well, Stripes, looks like someone here needs a brush-up on home security updates."

Marty had to take a few moments to let Skipper's words sink in. When he did, though, the zebra blushed at the realization that he had completely forgotten about the cameras the penguins had recently installed to the train carts. He quickly shot a weak, mollified smile to the lead penguin.

"So...heh...ya'll know..."

Skipper raised an eye-ridge in amusement. "About your little lady friend...? Oh, we get about the gist of it. And, of course, we'll help!"

"Just like that...?" Natasha asked in perplexity. _'I did not take this bird to be one to be so kind without catch.' _But wait; who ever said there _wasn't_ a catch?

"You do realize this plan will require you to give up generous amount of money, yes?" The tigress had seen plenty of times how stingy the penguins (well, Skipper mostly) were about their money.

"That, we are well aware of, miss," Kowalski responded in a matter-of-fact tone as he looked up from his shiny, black calculator, "and it's why we intend to negotiate a repression of reputation-based sabotage in exchange for easier legal acquisition of the female equestrian."

Natasha and Marty only gave the tallest penguin open, blank stares at his explanation, so Private happily clarified. "They won't let Miss Gabby go cheap, so we videotaped the things they've been doing in that zoo and plan to use the tape as blackmail."

"And if they don't lower the prices," Skipper briskly finished, "we lower the curtains on their operation."

...

Wow...just...wow...neither the zebra nor the tigress could say anything at this moment. These birds really had all the bases covered. Everything sounded too good to be true. Everything sounded so good that Marty started to lose all doubt of this plan working without a hitch.

That's why he didn't object to Natasha brightly asking, "How soon can you boys get ready?"

* * *

Back and forth...back and forth...back and forth; Marty had been pacing that way for about two hours—ever since the end of practice, in fact.

"Oh...I am so-a worried for Marty. He is-a making me nervous, moving like-a that!" Stefano took his striped friend's behavior as peculiar due to the fact that the zebra had seemed so focused during practice. Now that practice was over, though, Marty had nothing to distract himself.

And Gloria had seen about enough. It was time for Momma Hippo to get a grip on this situation. "That's it. I'm putting a stop to this."

With looks of support from Gia, Melman, Stefano, Natasha, and Alex, and Vitaly joining her just in case there'd be any need for extra muscle, Gloria marched over to the monochromatic worrywart.

"Marty...? Marty! How much longer are you going to keep this up? Honey, you're worrying everybody outta their minds!"

Marty stopped at the sharp words, his back to his longtime friend, and slowly turned his head to face Gloria. The hippo froze at the desperate gaze in the equine's abnormally dim eyes. He looked so lost...so scared.

His look did not pass Stefano, Vitaly, Natasha, Melman, Alex, and Gia's notices either. All five animals could understand how concern for someone you cared about could eat away at you. And from what Natasha had told them about Gabby's situation, the others had a feeling Marty was somewhat right to worry for the success of this plan.

On the other hand, seeing Marty in such a state was, to say the least, disturbing to the other circus animals, especially to Alex, Melman, and Gloria, all of whom had known the zebra for the longest. Even Natasha, who hadn't known Marty for that long, and Vitaly, who normally didn't dare to show worry in public, couldn't keep the anxiety off of their faces.

"I'm sorry, ya'll. I just...," Marty shrugged his shoulders, ashamed for what his pacing had done to the others, "It's not so much whether or not we'll get Gabby outta there that worries me. I guess...I'm just worried about how well she'll adjust to life with us. You gotta admit: we ain't exactly the calmest bunch around."

Alex lightheartedly scoffed at his buddy's words. "Oh c'mon, we can be totally calm!"

"Fire in the hole!"

Everyone barely had time to turn their heads in the direction of Skipper's voice before a burst of fiery light from somewhere in the mountains lit up their vision. They immediately shielded their eyes from the brightness of the explosion as deafening roars echoed in the distance.

The light eventually died out, leaving behind a sizeable mushroom cloud of smoke, which everyone gawked at in both shock and confusion. Their thousands of questions got answered when a charred, smoking Rico fell right in front of them, his maniac smile not wavering even in the slightest.

A moment of silence passed as the gang took in the sight of the burned bird.

...

"Okay...maybe semi-calm..."

* * *

**Poor Marty; there's a lot that could happen with Natasha's plan, and his usual optimism isn't enough to quiet down his fears for Gabby. ****And I know I'm straying a bit from Vitaly, but don't worry, we'll be seeing plenty of everybody's favorite macho tiger soon enough.**


	9. Freedom

**I love coming up with titles that have more than one meaning. Once again, I own nothing of Madagascar and Gabby belongs to Funkywatermelon. I only own the characters I made up for this story.**

* * *

Patience had never been Vitaly's strong suit. Even the fire-ring accident couldn't change _that_.

Regardless, something inside the tiger kept telling him to wait...as well as do something else he also never excelled at: hope.

Vitaly stopped pacing around the floor of his and Natasha's boxcar and pinched his eyes together in frustration. _'How much longer ez dis meant to take?'_

The monkeys and the penguins had left the circus earlier this morning and parted ways with each other, each group off to pull off its role in the plan. That had been about four hours ago.

Even with all of the practice and hard work thrown in, nothing could distract the Fab Four of NY, the tigers, Gia, and Stefano from thinking—and worrying—about Gabby...especially Marty.

Vitaly sighed once more, only this time in concern. Marty, true to form (and in spite of his anxiety talk from yesterday), never stopped smiling and never lost the spring in his step during practice, even when he ended up flying into Vitaly by accident.

It was only a ruse.

Circus Zaragoza's knife-flinger could tell right away when the zebra flinched away from him instead of laughing and joking like usual. Nothing else could have screamed _'Something's wrong' _louder—not that Vitaly didn't know the obvious already. Thank goodness, the tiger chose to give everyone a break for a short while.

All the same, Vitaly was trying his hardest to remain calm and patient as he sat down beside his wife, her arms wrapping around one of his own and their backs against the back wall of their boxcar. Natasha lovingly stroked her husband's broad chest in an effort to calm him.

"It eez alright, Vitaly," she assured with a smile, "They know what they are doeeng. After all, how else would Alex and his friends have made it halfway across world?"

Vitaly grinned at his spouse's joke in a half-hearted manner, but then heaved a heavy sigh. Rubbing a hand over his head, the tiger looked out the tiny window of the boxcar. "I know, my love. It eez just..."

Natasha frowned at how the sentence trailed off. She didn't like it. It sounded too...fearful. "Just...what?"

"I cannot help but feel something will happen. Something terrible..."

Natasha widened her light blue eyes in shock. Then she narrowed them in concern as she craned her head closer towards her husband. "What makes you say dat?"

"I do not know. I simply cannot shake eet." Vitaly shrugged. He jerked in surprise when he felt Natasha give him a soft punch in the shoulder with her free hand.

"You know, Alex is right. You _do _worry too much," the tigress smacked her gums and crossed her arms, "Worrywart."

_'Oh lovely, now __**my wife**__ calls me out on my personality issues.'_

Vitaly rolled his eyes and would've retorted something about being too lighthearted and optimistic if Natasha hadn't grabbed his head and silenced his lips with her own. The two cats froze in place as Vitaly immediately closed his eyes, too lost in the moist warmth of the kiss. After what felt like an eternity, they finally parted, Vitaly growling at the dangerous expression on his wife's face.

Natasha half-lidded her eyes and sultrily whispered in his ear, "I like worrywarts," before drawing back.

Vitaly grinned back at his wife, a naughty gleam in his green eyes as he took her by the chin and leaned toward her again to—

A sudden scream shattered the mood, startling the two tigers. Wasting no time, Vitaly and Natasha dashed out of their cart at record speed. The growing crowd of circus animals near the cannons was not hard to miss.

The two tigers quickly marched up to the group, of which they could recognize Stefano, Alex, and Gia, all of whom caught sight of and waved at them to come over, the worry evident on all three of their faces.

"What eez wrong?" Vitaly's question sounded more like a demand than an actual question, but it got him an answer all the same.

The penguins, sliding from out of nowhere, approached the tiger couple, Kowalski with a pair of binoculars in his flippers. The older ones all seemed more serious than usual, even Rico. Private was the only exception; his face was twisted in worry, his flippers fidgeting with each other.

Skipper pointed a flipper at them and gestured them to follow him. "You better come and have a talk with Stripes' girl, Ruskies."

Rico and Kowalski parted the crowd so Vitaly and Natasha could see the reason for the hushed whispers. Natasha gasped in fear and concern at the sight. Vitaly narrowed his eyes in suspicion and premonition.

Curled into a ball in Marty's arms and constantly looking all around as if searching for a world only she could see...was Gabby.

She shivered against the older zebra's chest as if she'd just been dipped in ice cold water and pulled out. Her wide, brown eyes shone with unshed tears as her ears twitched spastically, as if on the alert for even the _slightest_ tattletale sound of who-knows-what.

While Private stepped forward to help Marty ease the she-zebra's mind, Kowalski shook his head in sympathy for the girl. "She's been behaving like this ever since we arrived."

Everyone, even Vitaly, jumped when Gabby abruptly started hiccupping, clinging closer and harder to Marty to the point of nearly cutting off the circulation in his arms. Marty didn't even show the slightest hint of pain, even though Private managed to make Gabby relax her hold.

But soon her hiccups began to form something. "H-H-He...H-He..."

Marty nuzzled the trembling female—his way of motivating her to continue. Gabby merely closed her eyes and buried her face into the crook of Marty's neck, her tears no longer held back. "He...He followed me. I-I-I saw him. I-I didn't think...I...I'm sorry."

Vitaly would've marched over and demanded Gabby to elaborate if his wife had not impeded him with a hand to his chest and a shake of her head. Being delicate was also not one of Vitaly's strong suits.

Stepping to the penguin and two zebras as lightly as possible, Natasha leaned down and gave Gabby her most comforting and encouraging smile. Given the situation, though, the smile came off as somewhat muted. "Who did you see? Who saw you?"

"B-B..."

Natasha took one of Gabby's hooves in her paws and gently and repeatedly stroked the back of it with her thumbs. "Take deep, even breaths, dear. Now tell us. Who followed you here?"

This time, Gabby looked to Natasha without hesitation...except her eyes shone with a different emotion: sympathy?

Gabby closed her eyes and, with a final breath too much like that of a person readying for a death sentence, spoke softly enough so only Natasha, Vitaly, Marty, and Private could hear.

"Boris."

* * *

**Feeling scared yet?**


End file.
